© MARGARET MARKLEW
JJ GOODWIN
Vivekananda’s English disciple
JJ’s last days.
We know from other sources that JJ was bored with small town politics of the English community in the picturesque hill station of Ootacamund, but he stuck to his task as a journalist and attended a funeral in the rain the day after getting a drenching at a cricket match. The next day he started to show symptoms of cholera. He had been ill for some time before D Scott Bremner; editor of the Madras Mail reached his bedside. Only part of the letter that he sent to Mrs Goodwin has survived but is nevertheless very moving.
“ …reached Madras where I received a telegram from the Dr here summoning me to Ootacamund at once as your son was dangerously ill with typhoid(enteric fever). I wired to have him taken to hospital & started at once for Ootacamund.
When I arrived I learned that he had fought so strenuously against being removed to the hospital that the Dr. had to be sent for, when he submitted & went quietly. This was the morning of the 1st June. I arrived in the evening & went at once to the hospital to see him. He appeared to me to be very ill, so I arranged for the best treatment and the most careful nursing to be provided for him. The next day (the 2nd inst.)was a very busy day for me; but I found time to go to the Hospital and see him. He was delirious and could not recognise me, & as it was considered wisest not to excite him in any way, I left, leaving a message with the doctor to send for me should any change for the better or worse come over him. At about 10pm that night I was summoned from my work at home to come & see your son who was worse & was rapidly sinking. I hurried up to the hospital & found your son surrounded by the doctor and nurses who were doing all they could to resuscitate him, as it was hoped that if he could last through the night the crisis would be past. He had however overtaxed a naturally fine constitution & at this critical stage he had not the vitality necessary to car him through. He was semi-unconscious for the greater part of the day & at the end did not know me or any one round his bed. He passed peacefully away at 10.30pm. I buried him the next evening in the pretty little cemetery attached to St Thomas’ Church in this station and here under the shadow of the everlasting hills his restless body will find the rest which he apparently never allowed it to find in life.
I am commissioned by the entire staff of the paper he served so well, both up here and in Madras, to offer you our sincerest & most heartfelt sympathy in your bereavement & assure you of the great esteem & respect in which he was held not only on account of his great abilities but of his sterling worth & honesty of character.
Believe me Madam
Sincerely yours
D Scott Bremner
One of the first tasks that Mr Scott Bremner undertook when he left the hospital was to send a telegram to Mrs Goodwin, which I still possess. Another survival is a letter from the sannyasins of Belur Math. The poem “Resquiescat in Pace” and the accompanying letter from Vivekananda to Mrs Goodwin are lost.
We know from other sources that JJ was bored with small town politics of the English community in the picturesque hill station of Ootacamund, but he stuck to his task as a journalist and attended a funeral in the rain the day after getting a drenching at a cricket match. The next day he started to show symptoms of cholera. He had been ill for some time before D Scott Bremner; editor of the Madras Mail reached his bedside. Only part of the letter that he sent to Mrs Goodwin has survived but is nevertheless very moving.
“ …reached Madras where I received a telegram from the Dr here summoning me to Ootacamund at once as your son was dangerously ill with typhoid(enteric fever). I wired to have him taken to hospital & started at once for Ootacamund.
When I arrived I learned that he had fought so strenuously against being removed to the hospital that the Dr. had to be sent for, when he submitted & went quietly. This was the morning of the 1st June. I arrived in the evening & went at once to the hospital to see him. He appeared to me to be very ill, so I arranged for the best treatment and the most careful nursing to be provided for him. The next day (the 2nd inst.)was a very busy day for me; but I found time to go to the Hospital and see him. He was delirious and could not recognise me, & as it was considered wisest not to excite him in any way, I left, leaving a message with the doctor to send for me should any change for the better or worse come over him. At about 10pm that night I was summoned from my work at home to come & see your son who was worse & was rapidly sinking. I hurried up to the hospital & found your son surrounded by the doctor and nurses who were doing all they could to resuscitate him, as it was hoped that if he could last through the night the crisis would be past. He had however overtaxed a naturally fine constitution & at this critical stage he had not the vitality necessary to car him through. He was semi-
Believe me Madam
Sincerely yours
D Scott Bremner
One of the first tasks that Mr Scott Bremner undertook when he left the hospital was to send a telegram to Mrs Goodwin, which I still possess. Another survival is a letter from the sannyasins of Belur Math. The poem “Resquiescat in Pace” and the accompanying letter from Vivekananda to Mrs Goodwin are lost.
